Chinese Man Arrested for Stabbing Woman in Hotel Exhausted and Distressed After Confession

The police received an emergency 110 call around midnight on February 25th.

“I stabbed someone.”

The person who made the call was the suspect himself, accused of attempting to murder a young woman.

On February 25th, the Ikebukuro Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Zhou Yang, a 35-year-old Chinese national with an unknown occupation living in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of attempted murder. That same day, Zhou had stayed at a hotel in Ikebukuro with the woman and called 110 himself, confessing, “I stabbed her.” During the police investigation, Zhou admitted, “There is no mistake that I stabbed the woman.”

“After receiving the call, officers rushed to the hotel, where they found a woman in her 20s, identified as Ms. A, collapsed at the front desk, bleeding from her chest. Zhou, who was standing in shock at the scene, was immediately arrested on the spot. The two were acquaintances, and Zhou reportedly told the police, ‘We had a dispute.’

A knife believed to have been used in the attack was found in the room they stayed in. Zhou is believed to have stabbed Ms. A in the chest and arms with this knife. Ms. A was conscious when transported to the hospital and is not in a life-threatening condition, but she has sustained serious injuries with an undetermined recovery period,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social affairs department.

It was not a spontaneous act

A photographer from this magazine captured images of Zhou Yang’s transfer on February 26th, the day after his arrest. Zhou appeared disoriented and exhausted, lowering his gaze when he noticed the gathered reporters before quickly boarding the police vehicle.

Former Kanagawa Prefecture police detective and crime journalist, Taihei Ogawa, offered his analysis:

“The key focus of the investigation moving forward will be uncovering the specifics of the dispute between the two. The critical question revolves around the nature of the relationship between Ms. A and Zhou. Were they romantically involved, or was it a professional interaction between a service provider and a client? If it was the former, romantic entanglements could be the root of the conflict; if the latter, the issue might have been related to payment or Zhou’s one-sided romantic feelings.

Regardless, the fact that Zhou had a knife suggests that he had some level of premeditation. This wasn’t a sudden outburst but likely the culmination of growing dissatisfaction with Ms. A. Since Ms. A was found collapsed at the front desk, it’s believed she managed to flee the room after being attacked by Zhou.”

The police plan to conduct a detailed interview with Ms. A once her condition improves.